Which ESP32 to buy

For a first project with a screen take a Cheap Yellow Display: the screen, touch and microSD are already on the board. For a camera take ESP32-CAM with its programmer board. For your own wiring take an ESP32 DevKit, or an ESP32-C3 SuperMini if it has to be small. The list below shows how many projects each board has on Chipnik.

Updated November 6, 2026

Chips side by side

Chip	Cores	RAM	Wi-Fi	Bluetooth
ESP32	2 × 240 MHz	520 KB	Wi-Fi 4	4.2 and BLE
ESP32-S3	2 × 240 MHz	512 KB	Wi-Fi 4	BLE 5
ESP32-C3	1 × 160 MHz	400 KB	Wi-Fi 4	BLE 5
ESP32-C6	1 × 160 MHz	512 KB	Wi-Fi 6	BLE 5, plus Zigbee and Thread
ESP8266	1 × 160 MHz	About 50 KB free with Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 4	None

What to look at before you buy

Classic Bluetooth, for example for audio, exists only on the plain ESP32 in this table. The others have BLE.
The same name can hide different boards. The Cheap Yellow Display comes with one or two USB ports, and each needs its own build.
Look at the USB chip in the seller's photos. CH340 and CP2102 sometimes need a driver. The ESP32-S3 and C3 have USB in the chip on some boards.
ESP32-CAM has no USB. Buy it with the ESP32-CAM-MB programmer board, otherwise you also need a USB-UART adapter.
Buy a USB cable that carries data if you only have charging cables.

Shops and starter sets are on the What to buy page.